New Mexican space module EMIDSS-6 to be tested in NASA mission

MEXICO - The Mexican Space Agency (AEM) informed that this December the new Mexican space module “EMIDSS-6” will be tested in a mission of the US space agency (NASA).

In the official announcement, with the presence in Mexico of NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, AEM's Director General, Salvador Landeros Ayala, highlighted that Mexican talent continues to advance in the development of its own sovereign satellite technology, and in challenges such as the study of climate change.

The “EMIDSS-6” (Experimental Module for the Iterative Design of Satellite Subsystems-6) was developed by a team led by Mario Alberto Mendoza Bárcenas, a researcher at the Center for Aerospace Development (CDA) of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), in collaboration with the Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology of the UNAM (ICAT).

As part of its international cooperation agenda, the IPN was invited by NASA and the U.S. National Science Foundation to test EMIDSS-6, which will collect and store onboard data to develop atmospheric characterization profiles and operate as a proof of concept for the design of future space missions.

In order to contribute to the study of climate change, with the support of the AEM, EMIDSS-6 will include the “AEM-OPTIC-1” module, which will acquire data and satellite images of the stratospheric environment to support experiments for future identification of contaminants in the atmosphere such as microplastics, including environmental sensors for climatological characterization.

The Mexican spacecraft will have an onboard computer used successfully in previous suborbital missions with NASA, based on a 32-bit microcontroller, developed around the RP2040 microcontroller, and sensors to measure humidity, temperature and ultraviolet radiation.

EMIDSS-6 will contribute to the global scientific community's need for more data for the study and understanding of climate change, ocean warming, and its connection with the increase in frequency and intensity of meteorological phenomena such as hurricanes, a shared challenge of the region that mostly affects the most vulnerable population.

After passing strict technical and electromagnetic compatibility evaluations, the exact date of the launch of EMIDSS-6 from the McMurdo Station in the United States, at the southern tip of Ross Island, Antarctica, will be announced shortly by NASA.